Breaking Free
by Adrian T. Starke
Summary: Shepard's past begins to come screaming back to haunt him, even after he has supposedly died. However, something is different. A certain quarian machinist is missing from his memories. What is happening, and how can he make it stop. Alternate Ending, mShep/Tali.
1. Part 1

The pain was unbelievable. Head was pounding, skin burning, heart racing. Every nerve of his being seemed like it was on fire. However the kind of pain he was in wasn't the surprising part. In fact, it was to be expected from what he had just gone through. What was unexpected was the fact that he was still feeling anything at all. After all, he should be dead.

Shepard made his choice. The reapers had to be stopped, but using the Crucible to destroy them would have caused more damage than it was worth, killing all synthetic life in the galaxy, including the geth, for whom Shepard went to great lengths to form a peace with as well as grant them true individuality. EDI would have also been in the line of fire. So there was only one choice: he had to use the Crucible to control the reapers. If he did that, he could make the reapers leave the galaxy, putting a permanent end to the cycle. The only catch was, he had to give up his physical form to do so.

He forced himself to walk, even though every fiber of his being was screaming for him to stop. Every step felt like a shot in the leg, but he couldn't stop. He had to keep moving. He had to stop the reapers. He could almost hear the Illusive Man saying that he was doing the right thing, that he was making the right choice. Even in death, that bastard couldn't shut up. It was ironic. Shepard had been fighting against the Illusive Man, who claimed he could control the reapers with the Crucible. Now he was doing just that. Shepard, however, wouldn't be using them for his own personal armada.

After one final push, Shepard was at the control. All he had to do now, was grit his teeth and hang on. It was at once the hardest choice he had ever made and the easiest. His life for billions of others. That made the choice easy. What made it hard was people he'd be leaving behind. Even as his body was being torn to shreds, Shepard's thoughts were on his crew, his friends, his family. Joker, with all his terrible jokes, a man so in love with his ship that he was actually dating the ship's AI. Garrus, a soldier through and through, always finding ways to optimize their weapons through seemingly endless calibrations. And Tali… It looked like she'd be building that house on her own now. It was fine. As long as she was alive.

Totally worth it.

Light assaulted his eyes as they peeled open, exacerbating the throbbing in his head. He was less disoriented after getting put back together in Project Lazarus. There shouldn't be any light. There shouldn't be anything. Pain, sensation of any kind, there should have been none of that. Any other man would speculate that this was what the afterlife was like. However, Shepard has had the unique experience of spending two years legally dead. It didn't feel like this.

It took almost a minute for Shepard's eyes to begin adjusting, and longer still to start making things out. Slowly but surely, blurs formed into shapes. Shepard began to make out where he was. The destruction, the familiar architecture, there was only one place that he could be. He was back on Earth.

Shepard tried to wrap his head around what was happening. The commander was certain he was just moments ago ripped apart by the Crucible in order for him to take control of the reapers. He should be dead. Shepard got to his feet, his head still ringing from whatever it was that happened. He looked around to try and figure out just where he was, but began to notice that something was off. He was in front of the transport beam to the Citadel. He looked over himself: his armor was relatively intact and he still had the refurbished M-7 Lancer he had gotten from the Citadel archives. After narrowly avoiding a blast from Harbinger, Shepard's N7 armor was left a charred husk, and he was left with a dirty carnifex. Before he could even speculate what was happening, the sight of Harbinger firing at him got him moving. It was only after Shepard saw the rest of Hammer charging the conduit that he realized what was happening: he was reliving a past event. The Catalyst did say that he would retain his memories after he gave up his corporeal form. However, something didn't feel right. The commander clearly remembered charging the conduit with Garrus and Tali close behind him. There was a shot from Harbinger and the two of them were injured and had to be extracted on the Normandy. He saw Garrus behind him, but Tali was nowhere to be seen. Shepard was sure she was behind him. He was sure. For a moment, there was panic. The commander knew that the only way that this would feel like a victory is if she survived. He knew what he had to do. It was the only choice that made any sort of sense at that moment.

Shepard turned back.

He moved faster than he thought he could. The soldiers heading toward the conduit were all shouting, asking why he was going back. Shepard blocked them out. There was nothing that could stop him for going back for Tali. Not the soldiers, not Garrus, not the Illusive Man's voice imploring him to go for the conduit. Nothing.

The commander kept running, but still there was no sign of Tali anywhere. Everything began to blur. Shapes melted into streaks as he ran past them, and the noise began to wane as he moved forward. It was like he was going through a tunnel, with a bright light at the end of it. Shepard didn't really notice it. He was too focused on getting to Tali to think about anything else. As all the sound began to fade, he heard a clear voice. Not Tali's or the Illusive Man's. It was Anderson. He only said one thing.

"Shepard!"

The commander glanced back, seeing Anderson injured. Shepard remembered the Illusive Man forcing him to shoot the admiral. The look on his face, it wasn't a questioning one, or the look of disapproval. It was one saying, "keep going." Shepard wasn't about to argue. A few more steps to reach the light.

He couldn't really tell when it started, but everything began to take shape again as he got closer to the light. But instead of the dull grays of crumbling concrete, there was an earthen red color, brought on by an orange star. It was hot, too. Almost like an Earth desert. It was only when he stopped to catch his breath did he realize where he was. It was Rannoch, the quarian home world. Tali's home world. Seeing Tali step foot on this planet was something utterly profound. She was mostly quiet, taking everything in. She claimed a spot where she would build a house. Shepard told her he would help. It was a beautiful thing, seeing so much hope and liberation from a few small steps. It was a serious boost to his morale.

The commander didn't have much time to reminisce. Once again, he was thrust back into the thick of the action. He realized he was about to face off against a reaper destroyer. This day was getting better and better. He had to end this quickly. It was a good thing he had the Synch Laser that Admiral Xen had made. He had to admit, it felt pretty good bringing down the full firepower of the quarian fleet on that reaper. Getting to do it again was an added bonus.

The reaper went down as easily as it did the last time. Easily for a reaper that is. It was dead and he was still alive. Just like last time. But something still seemed off. Nothing about this trip down memory lane seemed right. Back on Earth, and now here on Rannoch, there was something missing: Tali.

He remembered very clearly. Legion was about to upload the reaper code he obtained to the rest of the geth, giving them true intelligence and individuality. Tali was there for that. She finally fully accepted that the geth were more than just machines, that they could be allies. But this time, she wasn't there. It didn't make sense. If these were his memories, then why wasn't Tali there? Was he losing his grip on her memory? If so, how long would before he started losing everything? The Illusive Man's voice kept gnawing at him, telling him to just let it go. But he couldn't. He couldn't just let it go. Shepard's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a familiar electronic voice.

"Shepard Commander."

Shepard turned.

"Legion…"

"You must keep going."

"Where? Where can I go?" Everything was just so confusing. Where was he supposed to go? What was he supposed to do?

"You must go back."

"Wha…" Shepard started to lose his footing, and was unable to save himself as he fell from the cliff he was standing on. The last thing he saw was Legion looking down at him. Then the world went black.

Shepard opened his eyes. Everything had shifted again. Instead of dirt and rock, there was smooth, bright metal, marred by scorch marks and shattered glass. He was on the Citadel, during Cerberus' attempted coup. The day Thane was mortally wounded by Kai Leng. In that case, he couldn't just lie around. Shepard crawled to his feet, grabbing the Avenger rifle on the ground and started moving. He wasn't sure why he had come to this memory. Tali hadn't even rejoined the squad at that point. Whatever the reason, he would just have to go with it. Like Legion said, he had to keep going. If he kept going back, maybe he would run into Tali eventually. Hopefully.

Shepard made his way to the nearest elevator and headed to the Presidium Commons, where he knew where most of the fighting would be. The commander was certain now that things were playing out differently than he remembered. He didn't really have time to think about it too much. It seemed that each time he jumped into a new memory there was inevitably someone or something trying to kill him. That didn't leave him much room for interpretation.

As soon as the elevator door opened, Shepard was met by the sound of gun fire and screaming. The commander had to hurry. Kai Leng was gunning for the Council, and he had to stop him. That's what happened last time. And maybe, if things were happening differently, he could stop Kai Leng before he stabbed Thane. Maybe if he could do better this time, he could save his friend.

The Cerberus assault troopers went down easily. Without any additional defenses, they weren't very tough. A singularity followed by a warp blasted them around quite nicely. The Guardians had riot shields, but they were easily ripped away with a biotic pull, leaving them defenseless. The Centurions were a bit tougher. Their kinetic barriers were fairly resistant to biotics. Shepard would have to rely on his rifle to take out their shields in order to get at them. Combat Engineers had laid down some automated turrets, but a few cluster grenades would make short work of them. The Nemesis snipers and the Phantoms were the most difficult. A warp followed by a throw was effective at stripping the Nemesis' shields, leaving her open for Shepard's assault rifle. The Phantom proved to be even more of a challenge. While her biotic barrier was vulnerable to warp attacks, she was extremely agile, being able to dodge them, and her tactical cloak didn't make it any easier. Shepard had to get in close, avoiding her sword attacks, to deliver a warp at pointblank, letting him finish her off with a biotically charged punch, sending her over the edge of the balcony they were on.

With the Cerberus forces out of his way, he could get to the salarian councilor before Kai Leng murdered him. He knew the Cerberus assassin was coming this time. Shepard wasn't going to let him get the better of him. Shepard came up to the room where the Councilor Valern was hiding. As he expected, Kai Leng was there in the room, about to carry out his mission. The commander used a biotic throw to blast through the window and slam the Cerberus assassin into the wall. Shepard jumped down into the room, ready to finish Kai Leng. Before he could make another move, the commander was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Shouldn't you be focusing on stopping the reapers?" It was the Illusive Man. Shepard turned and saw him, or at least a holographic projection of him, as usual.

"What is this? What's going on?" Shepard demanded.

"You're on the wrong path, Shepard. This isn't how things went the last time is it?" His usual smugness deeply irked Shepard. But it made him think. He was doing things differently. Should he be? Before he or the Illusive Man could say anything else, there was a shot, one directed at the holographic projector the Illusive Man was using. It was Thane.

"Shepard you have to go."

"Thane!" Shepard made a step towards, but Thane fired a few more shots, this time at a recovered Kai Leng.

"Now." With that, the drell sent a biotic throw at Shepard, sending him through the door. There was nothing he could do but watch as the two assassins engaged each other. It was the last thing he saw before his surroundings began to change again. Once again, he was powerless to stop it.

Somehow, Shepard new where his next stop would be. Tuchanka, the krogan home world. The day when the genophage was finally cured. It was also the day Mordin died. At that point, Shepard was recognizing a pattern to these flashbacks: they are all moments when close friends had died. If that really was the case, he was sure how much more of this he could take. Living through these events once was enough. Now, to be forced to relive them, it was almost too much to bear.

As was quickly becoming tradition on this little trip, Shepard's thoughts were brought back to the moment when he realized what was going on at the moment. He was being shot at by another reaper. He had to deal with that before he could move on. Unlike on Rannoch, the commander didn't have sync laser to call down the firepower of a fleet to take the reaper down. No, he in fact had something far more satisfying and somewhat ironic: Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws.

Shepard's experience with thresher maws hasn't been very pleasant, to say the least. His infamous mission on Akuze saw his squad devoured by the things. This incident would scar Shepard for the rest of his life. It had marked him ways no-one could ever truly understand. However, one person came close to.

On Tuchanka, Shepard has had two memorable encounters with thresher maws. The first was when he was helping his krogan squad mate, Grunt, complete his rite of passage into adulthood. In the final part of this rite, they faced a thresher maw, on foot. And not only faced it, but killed it. They were the first to do so since Urdnot Wrex. Shepard was now reliving his second encounter with a thresher maw on Tuchanka. The one where he used one of the beasts to kill a reaper.

That was fun.

Of course, the reaper didn't really make it easy. On top of it firing at Shepard and his squad, there were reaper ground forces trying to stop them from getting to the maw hammers, the devices that were designed to summon thresher maws. He had finally come close to the hammers, but they were being guarded by what had to be a dozen brutes. If that wasn't enough, the reaper itself was trying to stomp on him. However, none of that slowed him down. Shepard was going to kill this reaper. The hammers were activated. Kalros came and dragged the reaper beneath the ground. The sight of the two titans clashing was almost surreal. The most advanced thing in the galaxy was just destroyed by one of the most primitive. Shepard had to admit, he probably wouldn't see thresher maws quite the same way again.

Now it was time for the bad part.

In order to cure the genophage, the cure had to be distributed by the Shroud, a salarian construct that was used to stabilize Tuchanka's atmosphere. However there were two problems. It was being bombarded by reaper forces, and it had been sabotaged by STG so that a cure for the genophage couldn't be distributed. Mordin would have to go into it fix it.

Shepard ran to the shroud, trying to get to Mordin before he went into the shroud. He had to make it. It was the last time he would ever see him. It was in sight. Mordin was already there, preparing to do what was necessary.

"Mordin!"

"Shepard." He turns to speak to the commander. "Can't stop it. Can't change the outcome. You know that." The salarian spoke in his usual fast paced, shorthanded way, but was noticeably more somber than usual. It was like the last time the doctor was on Tuchanka, witnessing the brutal experiments conducted by Maelon and clan Weyrloc.

"I know Mordin. I'm coming with you."

Mordin smiled. "That can work. Just have to keep going. Doesn't really matter how."

The two ascended the Shroud in the elevator. The whole way, Mordin was humming his "Scientist Salarian" song. It was a little awkward the first time the doctor sang it. It was one of those tunes that got stuck in your head so bad that you know all the words. Shepard found that he couldn't help but hum along with him. It was about half way up when they started chuckling. But Mordin quickly became somber again.

"Sorry, Shepard."

"For what?"

"Your next ordeal will be… unpleasant." His face looked quite grim at that statement.

"My ordeal…" He was cut off as the elevator came to a stop. Explosions rocked the Shroud. As Mordin began the repairs, the room disintegrated around them. The salarian turned to Shepard one last time as he finished.

"Find her."

That was the last thing Mordin said before everything changed again. It only took a few seconds to figure out that Mordin was right about the memory he was now reliving.

It was the day that Shepard died.


	2. Part 2

There were explosions. Fire. Yelling. Panic. Shepard remembered this day well, because it was one of the worst days of his life. Dying tends to have that sort of effect on a person. It was just another routine mission. Of course, it's always routine up until all hell breaks loose. And hell certainly broke loose on this one.

Officially, Shepard was supposed to be hunting the remaining pockets of geth still in council space. Of course he was actually looking for anything he could use to fight the reapers. Even then, Shepard knew the threat they posed. But like Garrus once said, knowing the truth about the reapers never really felt like a victory. When so few people believed the truth, he was fighting against the fears of a galaxy.

His fight was cut short, however, when the Normandy was attacked by an unknown enemy ship. A massive, powerful ship. Its main weapon cut through the Normandy's armor like wet tissue paper. It was like the shields weren't even turned on. With one attack, the mysterious ship had thrown the Normandy crew into chaos. There was nothing Shepard could do to stop it. His crew was dying, and he couldn't stop it. Of all the memories he had to relive, this was probably the worst.

Even through all of this, Mordin's words were still ringing in the commander's ears. "Find her." He had to have meant Tali. From the moment he started reliving these memories, Tali has been invariably absent. When he was on Earth, rushing for the conduit, on Rannoch when he killed the reaper, and now…

"Tali!" Shepard remembered. He never saw Tali during the collector attack. Kaiden came to help him put out fires, and he had to get Joker to an escape pod, but he never saw Tali. It was before they began their relationship, but Shepard had always felt they had chemistry. When the collectors hit, she had been preparing to head back to the Migrant Fleet to complete her pilgrimage, her rite of passage into adulthood. They had always known that she would be going back. Even though Shepard had feelings for her, he felt there was no way he could just get in the way of that. It was only two years later that he found out that Tali had feelings for him as well. It had been a month since they stopped Saren and Sovereign, and Tali was taking her time in preparing to return to the Migrant fleet. Now he had a pretty good idea as to why.

Shepard tore his way through the Normandy as fast as he could with all the destruction that was going on around them. He had to find Tali. He knew that she had gotten off safely the last time, but with everything that was going on now, he had to make sure. He had to find her. Shepard may not have known what would happen when, or if, he did. But whatever it was it had to be better than this, constantly reliving the deaths of his friends. And even if it continued, he would at least have Tali to help him through it.

As he moved through the ship, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Even through all the wreckage, it was clear that Tali was nowhere on the Normandy. There was no sign that the quarian had ever been there at all. It was like someone had erased her from existence. He stopped to think, maybe she had already evacuated. Whatever the case, she wasn't here. Now all he could do was go make sure Joker got off the Normandy.

Seeing the Normandy in this state again was like tearing open an old scar. The SR-1 was a good ship. Seeing it like this was like losing a good friend. Being raised on ships, Shepard usually formed some strong attachments to them. Though he knew that he could always move on to another one, it was never quite the same.

Joker was glued to his seat as usual. Trying to save the Normandy, even the she was already lost. One had to admire his determination. However, Shepard wasn't about to let him die. He'd drag him into a pod by his ears if he had to. Of course, that wasn't necessary. He knew what was going to happen. He would get Joker out in one piece, but get spaced himself.

He got to the bridge and managed to get Joker to an escape pod. Now all that was left was dying. Even as his life was slowly ebbing away, Shepard's thoughts were of his crew. But more than anything, he felt regret. Sure, there was the regret that he wouldn't be able to fight the reapers, but what he regretted most was not telling Tali about his feelings. He knew that Tali formed strong attachments to the crew. It was part of being a quarian. It was something they had in common. Having been raised on ships their whole lives, they saw their crew as a sort of surrogate family. Knowing now the way Tali felt about him gave Shepard an empty feeling in his chest, like someone had torn his heart right out of it. He felt as empty as the endless abyss of space that was now choking the life out of him. Darkness enveloped him as his last breaths were drawn.

Everything went from cold and suffocating, to temperate and refreshing. To anyone else, this might seem like an improvement over slowly dying in the vacuum of space. A tropical setting marred only by distant thunder storms. It was a rather beautiful place. Yet it was still a place the commander hoped to never see again. This was Virmire. The rogue spectre, Saren Arterius, had built a facility on this planet where he was studying indoctrination and building an army of krogan. Shepard and his squad went in to investigate why an STG unit had gone dark. There, he encountered Captain Kirrahe and his men. They had determined the purpose of Saren's facility and were planning to destroy it using their ship's drive core as a makeshift nuclear device. Wrex wasn't particularly happy about destroying a facility that could hold the cure for the Genophage, but Shepard was able to convince him it was the right thing. Kirrahe's group would serve as a distraction while Shepard's team cleared the facility in order to plant the nuke. It was a sound plan, but a dangerous one. Kirrahe suggested that one of Shepard's squad accompany him. The commander sent Kaidan Alenko with the salarian captain. His biotic and tech skills would prove useful in coordinating the distraction team. Shepard would need to have Ashley with him to help arm the jury-rigged explosive to take out the facility.

The operation went sideways. Geth reinforcements forced Kirrahe and Kaidan's group into a chokehold. Shepard took Garrus and Tali with him to back them up while Ash stayed behind to arm the bomb. As soon as they got close, a geth ship dropped off more reinforcements at Ash's position. With that, the commander was faced with one of the hardest decisions he has ever had to make in his life. It was either Ash or Kaidan. Ash had the bomb, but Kaidan was covering Kirrahe and his men. There was no time. Ash had armed the bomb and he had to pull Kaidan and the STG squad out of there before it went off. Shepard made for the LT's position, which was swarmed by geth. They went down fairly easily. He might have had time to go back for Ash, if Saren himself hadn't shown up. In that encounter, Shepard realized that Saren had been indoctrinated by Sovereign, the reaper that the turian spectre had discovered. Saren was nothing more than a puppet under the control of the reapers, and he didn't even realize it. If it hadn't been for him, he might have been able to save Ash. Maybe.

Shepard was expecting to have to fight his way through the facility again, reliving the memory like all the others he had experienced. Tali was still missing, which wasn't surprising at this point. However, this time, everyone else was gone as well. No Garrus, no Kaidan, no Kirrahe, no Wrex. There weren't even any geth. Shepard was completely alone.

The commander walked along the beach toward the krogan cloning facility. There was not a soul in sight, organic or otherwise. There weren't even any of the crab-like creatures scurrying about. Even without any distractions, it still took a while for Shepard to reach the facility; the first time around he had the Mako. This time, he was on foot and he seemed to be close to where the Normandy had dropped him off. It wasn't the long hike that made the trip painful; it was knowing what he would find in the facility.

Ashley was there, along with the bomb. She just stood there. Serene, at peace. It was a little unsettling. Everything was too peaceful. Even though Shepard was certain that none of this was real, given the nature of his previous flashbacks, something this peaceful seemed like some kind of setup. Shepard approached her cautiously, not sure of anything at that point.

"You know, skipper, I'm not going to bite." Ash was so nonchalant about all this, which leant to this whole thing being a setup.

"What's going on?" The question had more than one meaning. Ever since he flashed back to Earth, nothing had truly made sense.

"Something bad's happening, skipper. I'm here to get you out of this." With those two sentences, Shepard had more insight into what was happening to him.

"Something bad?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't have all the answers. I think you know who does."

"Tali."

Ash simply nodded in reply. It was starting to come together. If he found Tali, he got the answers to what was happening to him. Finding her, however, has proven to be problematic.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take, Ash."

"You just have to go a little further, skipper." Ashley's attention is drawn up behind Shepard. "Looks like we've got company."

Shepard turned. It was Saren. Of course he would show up. He was the reason Shepard wasn't able to save Ash. The commander hoped that he wouldn't be seeing him again, but it seemed that it was inevitable.

"Shepard. You've strayed from your path." Saren spoke with his usual confidence. There was something off about how he presented himself, though. Like he wasn't actually part of the memory.

"Funny, somebody else told me the exact same thing earlier. I hated him, too."

"You're going backwards, Shepard. Running from your decision, foolishly chasing after love while the galaxy burns."

"Don't listen to him, skipper. Love is something worth fighting for."

"I know, Ash. I know." Shepard immediately drew his heavy pistol and started shooting at Saren. The former spectre defended himself by throwing up a biotic barrier. His reaper implants made him a particularly powerful biotic. However, that is a trait that the two of them shared. Shepard launched a warp to disrupt Saren's barrier, then followed up with a throw to detonate the warp field. The blast threw the turian off his platform, but he quickly recovered and retaliated with a volley of a pulse rifle fire. Shepard took cover and returned fire with his Lancer. The commander ducked back down into cover to let his weapon cool. Fortunately he had gotten back into practice with the Lancer by the time he reached the endgame. Fighting Saren was no mean feat. He had been a spectre much longer than Shepard. He fought in the First Contact War, and has a reputation of being ruthless in battle. Thinking back, Shepard realized he never truly defeated Saren in a fight. He managed to evade him on Virmire, and when he killed him on the Citadel, the turian had been converted into a mindless husk. If he had his full faculties, Shepard wasn't sure if he could really beat him. However, if this was something going on in his own head, then the commander had home field advantage.

Shepard launched another warp, this time striking Saren directly. The former spectre's armor began to shred under the unstable mass effect field, leaving him vulnerable to gunfire. The commander jumped out of cover and fired at him until his gun overheated. Shepard dropped the rifle and drew his pistol, shooting as he walked toward his enemy. When Saren attempted another biotic attack, Shepard launched a singularity behind him. Without a barrier, the turian was pulled into its gravitational field, leaving him wide open for Shepard to finish him off with a shot to the head. The singularity faded, dropping Saren's body to the ground with a loud thud. Dead.

Shepard dropped to the ground. He was spent. He was tired of jumping from memory to memory, fighting all the horrible things he had encountered. He was just plain tired. Shepard just sat, wondering when this nightmare would end. How much longer would watch his friends die? Would he ever find Tali, or would he lose her forever? Coming back nearly three years in his history has taken its toll, and yet he still didn't understand what was going on. Was he heading toward oblivion, or was he doomed to repeat his failures for all eternity? At this point, it didn't really matter to him. He just wanted it to stop.

"Shepard." Ash's voice was low, like she knew something bad was about to happen. Shepard silently looked to her. "It's time for you to go now."

"Where?"

"I think, you know where."

"Why? She wasn't there. It was before we met." Shepard knew where he was going. And he didn't like it one bit. "Why the hell am I going there?!"

"It will be the worst experience you'll relive. But it will also be the last."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm sorry. But you'll just have to find out for yourself." Ash tapped a few controls on the bomb, arming it. "Goodbye, Skipper. And good luck."

In a brilliant flash of light, everything was gone.

The ground is shaking. Shepard knew that shake well. His oldest enemies. And not just one of them. It was a nest. This was the mission that would scar Shepard for the rest of his life. It was his mission on Akuze. His entire squad was devoured by thresher maws. Shepard thought he was just unlucky, that it had been a horrible accident or that he screwed up somehow. However, it was no accident. It was deliberate. Planned. It was a Cerberus experiment. An experiment. To them, people were nothing more than a resource to be exploited. But even knowing what Cerberus had done, Shepard went along with them because they were the only ones who would give him the resources to fight the collectors. Yet every day of it he questioned whether he was doing the right thing. He told himself he was, but he still wasn't really sure. If Garrus and Tali hadn't been there, Shepard probably would have felt even worse about it. He was relieved when he saw the quarian machinist again on Freedom's Progress, alive and well.

No matter what Cerberus did to help him, Shepard would never forget what they did to his squad. They led them into a thresher nest just to satisfy their curiosity. Good people died, supposedly for the good of humanity. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't for the good of humanity. It was probably the most horrific moment of his life, and it was replaying in slow motion. He couldn't move. He could hardly breathe. All Shepard could do was watch as his squad was killed.

"You could have avoided all this, Shepard." A familiar voice, but not one that filled him with comfort. It was the Illusive Man. Why was he here? He wasn't on Akuze, not in person. Shepard didn't have the strength left to question anything.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to get back on track." He walked around from behind Shepard to face him directly. "You've been running from your fate. Running from me. Running from all the tough choices you don't want to make."

"I'm not running. I'm just looking for someone."

"Ah, Miss Zorah. How do expect to find her here? It was before you two met. If you keep going backwards, you'll never find her. Time to let her go, Shepard. It's not like anything could have ever come from it."

"I never trusted you in real life. What the hell makes you think I'd trust you here?"

"You don't need to trust me. Sooner or later, you'll figure out your little, relationship, is meaningless and quite frankly wrong."

"I don't think I will. I don't have to listen to you. You're just a figment of my imagination."

"Defiant to the end. You got lucky when you were on Akuze, being the only survivor. However, I don't think you'll be getting that lucky this time."

A thresher maw burst out of the ground in front of Shepard. It just stood there, looking down at him. It stared him down, but Shepard was just ready for it all to end. He was tired and he just wanted it all to be over with. He just closed his eyes and silently waited for it to happen. He could feel its breath on him. It felt like the thresher was right in his face. It was all coming to a climax. Just not quite the one he was expecting.

There was a screech from the thresher, like it was struck by weapons fire. Shepard opened his eyes and realized that it had been hit with some kind of high heat weapon. No, it was a Carnage blast, from a shotgun. It wasn't enough to kill the creature, but it was able to drive it back underground. Shepard quickly got to his feet and spun around to try and see where the shot came from. It didn't take long. Though her face was obscured as always, her elegant purple veil and unmistakable figure gave her away immediately. She stood there, defiant and calm, gripping a Wraith shotgun firmly in her hands. It was the woman he'd been searching for this whole time, the one he fought so hard and suffered for. It was Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.

"Tali…"

"Shepard." It was her. It was really her. Her voice cut through everything going on, tickling his ears with its sweet sound. With one word, his name, she made all the suffering and loss worth it.

"Miss Zorah. You shouldn't be here." The Illusive Man maintained a calm visage, but Shepard knew Tali's appearance shook him. Shepard smirked slightly at his reaction.

"You're one to talk, Mr. Harper." That shut the Cerberus leader up quick. That must have been the Illusive Man's real name. But it was curious how the quarian machinist knew that. Didn't matter. All that mattered was that the look on The Illusive Man's face was priceless. It was good to see him taken down a peg.

"You're keeping him from his destiny, alien. You're interfering in matters beyond you. Shepard has to make a decision."

"He made a decision, but you pulled him back here. You just want him there making the decisions you want him to make." There was fierceness in Tali's voice. She's always been like this. She was someone a person could easily underestimate, but it would be very unwise if they did. It looked like Ash was right; it seemed like Tali had some answers. "Come on, Shepard. Let's go somewhere a little nicer."

She held out her hand to the commander, her captain. He took it without question.

"Shepard!" The Illusive Man's composure was gone. He wanted to keep Shepard from going anywhere except with him. "Don't turn your back on me Shepard!"

"Will you just shut up?" With a single swift motion, Tali drew her pistol and shot the Illusive Man right between the eyes. He shouldn't have underestimated her.

Everything began to shift again, the rocky environment melting into metal. It was a small hallway, dimly lit by a somewhat eerie red light. It's been nearly three years since he'd been there, but he remembered it well. This was the alley way near Chora's Den on the Citadel. It was where Shepard and Tali first met. If it hadn't been for her, Shepard might not have gotten the evidence he needed to convince the council that Saren had gone rogue. He would have never been allowed to chase after him and he would have learned of the reapers, and everyone would have been in some serious trouble. So Tali was a bit of a deus ex machina.

Shepard looked around. No one there. Just him and Tali. It was finally quiet. None of his friends were about to die, no rogue spectres, geth, reapers, or Cerberus. He could finally breathe easy and perhaps get some answers. He looked to Tali; she was wearing the envirosuit she wore when she was on her pilgrimage. It looked a lot more patchwork than other quarian suits he'd seen. When they met again on Freedom's Progress, she had changed so much, and not just her suit. She'd done a lot of growing up in the two years they were apart. She was given a lot of responsibility after she returned to the Migrant Fleet. Perhaps it was because the valuable geth data he'd let her copy, the fact she was an admiral's daughter, or both. In any case, she deserved it for all she had done. She deserved so much.

"Well, here we are. Hard to believe it's been three years since that day. Of course it's been shorter for us, hasn't it?" Tali looked at Shepard and touched a spot on his cheek. "That's right. You had a scar on your cheek. Cerberus fixed that though."

"Yeah. What did you mean us? You weren't dead for two years."

"No, but I'm just a projection of your own mind. So everything you know, I know. And you don't know what I was up to when I went back to the fleet."

"Right." Shepard sort of figured as much. He's also figured something else. Something he knew in the back of his mind but didn't really want to consider. "I'm being indoctrinated, aren't I?"

"Yeah…"

"So, I'm going to be one the reapers' puppets?"

"Mmmm, no." She was so nonchalant about it.

"But…"

"The Illusive Man is indoctrinating you, whether he realizes it or not. But he also inadvertently gave you a lifeline to save you from it."

"My implants, from Project Lazarus."

"Yes. You'll get one chance. Use it well. Come back to me alive, okay? Don't leave me behind." Don't leave me behind. That's what she said at the conduit. Shepard's heart sank when she said it then. This time, his heart was close to breaking.

"I, I won't. I'll come back for you. I'll end this war and come back for you!"

"Good. Good. It's time to go, Shepard. Time to end this, once and for all."

"Alright. How do I get back?"

"You just have to remember where you are."

That should have been easy. He should have remembered where he was, where he really was. It was all hazy. After everything he had been through, the truth seemed to just slip away. He struggled with his own memories, trying to get back to where he really was. After a few seconds, he managed to pick something out.

"The Citadel."

"Yes, but not here. Remember." There is a flash. Dark, red, painful. It's over in a second.

"Damn…"

"Remember." Another flash. He's holding a gun. Looking straight at Anderson. Gone again, just like the first. "You're almost there. Just a little more."

"But… what do I do when I get back?"

"You're Commander Shepard. You'll think of something. Now…"

Remember.

Everything snapped. The Illusive Man was stepping forward, about to clench his fist. He was about to force Shepard to shoot. He only had seconds. He had to do something fast. Then Shepard remembered: he was biotic. Shepard put all his will into firing the right nerves to make a biotic field. There was too little time, and he couldn't move enough to make a strong one, just one strong enough to move his hand a few inches to the right. Shepard fired. But instead of hitting Anderson in the stomach, he hit the Illusive Man in the side. Harper's hold on Shepard and Anderson was broken. There was nothing stopping the commander from shooting the Illusive Man in the head: Except for a thermal clip that had reached its heat capacity. Shepard was starting to agree with Conrad Verner about thermal clips. With no other weapons at his disposal, Shepard ran at Harper and tackled him. They hit the console behind Anderson, activating it. The arms of the Citadel began to open.

Harper managed to get a chokehold on Shepard. He was fully intent on squeezing the remaining life from the commander. As the Citadel arms opened up, however, Harper was distracted by the sight of Earth burning beneath them. Shepard was able to break free and level a punch to the Illusive Man's wound. Before they could reengage each other, the floor panel beneath them began to rise, lifting them into another room. It looked like it was open right out into space. One expected to be sucked out into the void, but it never happened. There was a massive beam of energy rising from the ground in the center of the room. This was where Shepard made his choice. Or at least, where he though he made a choice. He didn't have much time to think about it as Harper came at him again. It seemed his strength had been amplified by the reaper implants he had throughout his body. Harper threw Shepard a dozen feet towards the energy beam. Shepard had almost forgotten how much pain he was in before Harper's attempted his indoctrination.

"You just never know when to quit, do you Shepard?" He seemed confident, but Shepard knew he was beginning to lose his cool.

"I guess I don't, Harper." The Illusive Man stopped for a moment.

"How do you know that name?"

"I suppose I got into your head when you were trying to get into mine."

"I should have let Miranda put that control chip in your head. In hindsight it would have saved me a headache." Harper walked up to him and grabbed him by the neck. "We could have controlled them, Shepard. We could have dominated the galaxy! But now, humanity will die because of you!"

"Shepard!"

It was Anderson. He must have followed them up. Before Harper could even fully turn, the admiral shot Harper in the knee. He would have probably hit something more vital if he hadn't been injured himself. In any case, it might have just saved Shepard's life. The commander grabbed Harper and threw him to the ground. The Cerberus director quickly got up again, but before he was ready to fight again, Shepard punched him right in the face. He didn't stop. Blow after blow forced Harper backwards toward the device Shepard used to control the reapers in his hallucination. It felt as though Shepard's body would give out at any moment, but he didn't stop. Not until Harper was backed up just a few feet from the machine.

"We're right here, Shepard! I can control the reapers!"

"No. You can't." Shepard wound up and delivered one final blow directly to the Illusive Man's skull, knocking him into the machine.

As soon as Harper hit the machine, it looked like he was getting electrocuted. But Shepard knew what was really happening to him. He was about to be torn apart and uploaded as the reapers' central consciousness. But Shepard remembered what the Catalyst told him when the Illusive Man was trying to indoctrinate him. It said that the reapers couldn't be controlled by someone they themselves controlled. However it didn't really say what would happen if they tried.

"ERROR! ERROR!" The Catalyst appeared, but instead of the voice of a child, it had something more along the lines of the reapers. It was deep and terrifying, but what it was saying made it more bearable. It sounded like it was starting to malfunction.

The Illusive Man's body slowly disintegrated. He screamed the whole time, right up until he had to no mouth to scream with. However it was mostly eclipsed by the booming voice of the Catalyst spouting techno babble that Shepard didn't really have the strength or patience to listen to. It went on for a few minutes before it got quiet again. Shepard hobbled back to the center of the room, towards the holographic projection of the Catalyst. The commander had wondered whether the Catalyst was actually the AI controlling the reapers or something from his own mind. It looked like it was real, but then again, so did the whole trip down memory lane.

"Shepard. You are strong indeed."

"What just happened?"

"The one you call the Illusive Man was integrated into our systems. The control mechanism has become corrupted. Total failure is imminent. The Illusive Man's integration has interfered with my operation. It is causing critical failures in my processes. Our own control signal will cause a catastrophic error in the reapers' runtimes, as well as my own. The Crucible will fire automatically, transmitting the corrupt code to the reapers. Their ability to process the numerous programs within their constructs will be stripped away, putting them into a catatonic state. The mass relays will also be damaged from the Crucible's transmission, but the damage should be relatively minimal. There is still time to choose one of the other options."

"I don't think so. I have someone to get back to."

"Then the future is in your hands." And that was it. The Catalyst faded and the Crucible began to fire. The allied fleet retreated though the relay to escape the blast.

Shepard watched as a massive, white wave of energy fired from the crucible over the Earth before sending a beam off into space, most likely into the mass relay network. He watched as the reapers surrounding Earth began to spark and begin to move erratically. They began to fire wildly, shooting at each other, tearing themselves apart. Soon, the reapers seemed to become overwhelmed by the lack of control. They eventually stopped moving, becoming catatonic like the Catalyst said they would. The reapers had finally been defeated.

Shepard walked over to Anderson. The admiral was sitting on the floor, his strength almost gone. Shepard could relate. He joined Anderson on the floor and looked out on Earth. They could only imagine the cheering that was happening on her surface. They didn't need to hear it. They were perfectly fine with just watching the reapers float lifelessly in space.

"Damn. Now that's a sight." Anderson sounded completely and utterly relieved. The enemy of the entire galaxy have been reduced to empty shells. "I can die happy now."

"Not planning on dying anytime soon, are you?" Shepard was only half joking.

"Heh, no. Kahlee would probably give me hell if I died now. How about you, Shepard? You look rough."

"Well, if I went and did that, I'd have an angry quarian to deal with."

"So, you and Tali, huh? I thought there was something there."

"Yeah. She's out there somewhere. It might take a while, but I'll get back to her. I'm not going to leave her behind."

"Good. They'll probably send up salvage ships soon." Anderson leaned back, taking in the view of the Earth. "You did good, son. I'm proud."

"Thanks you, sir."


	3. Epilogue

Months went by as humanity rebuilt Earth after the war finally ended. The non-humans left on Earth when the fleet bugged assisted in rebuilding, being essentially stranded. Any pettiness there might have been, any mistrust or prejudice was completely gone. As far as anyone was concerned, they were all just people trying to make the best of the situation. The reapers sought to destroy all life in the galaxy, but inadvertently brought it together.

Fortunately, many of the FTL comm buoys were left intact allowing some limited communication off planet. Most of the channels were choked up by scientists and military officials in order to coordinate the repairs to the mass relays and the Citadel. With the joint effort of allied races, the repairs were going surprisingly well. After building the Crucible, rebuilding mass relays was relatively easy in comparison. In fact, much of the Crucible was cannibalized in rebuilding the Citadel. No point in letting all those resources go to waste. It would take years, but the entirety of the relay network could be rebuilt, including the Citadel. Everything that was lost could be rebuilt. There were even talks of using the Citadel's Mass relay function to see exactly where reapers were hiding, and if there were any more lurking in dark space.

The scattered remains of the reapers still linger in Earth's orbit. At first salvage teams were worried that clearing the wreckage would put them in danger of indoctrination, but it seemed that they were completely dead. Valuable materials were salvaged from the reaper corpses, many of them being useful in rebuilding the Charon relay and the Citadel. Studying the reapers further would undoubtedly lead to major breakthroughs in technology, but for the time being, rebuilding the relay network took priority.

The Charon relay in the Sol system was fully repaired and was in the process of being tested. The most demanding and dangerous part of the test had been completed successfully, with several ships being safely sent through the relay to another rebuilt relay. Now it was only a matter of time to see if the relay could effectively coordinate and receive an incoming ship. While there was a good chance it would work, given that the receiving relay was successful, there was always a chance that something could go wrong. There were a lot of unknowns in rebuilding mass relays: there had never really been much call for it. Either way, the people of Earth were about to find out whether or not they would receive the support they desperately needed. There were rumors that the Normandy was going to be the ship that was coming in. Some thought that was a silly idea, stating that the Alliance wouldn't risk their most advanced ship in a test that could potentially strand it in deep space. On the other hand, it would have been a huge boost to morale if it was the Normandy.

The mass relay successfully receiving a ship was enough a morale boost. When it turned out that it actually was the Normandy, it was almost cause to celebrate. The Normandy had become something of a symbol of unity and hope, just as Commander Shepard had become.

With communications still in such disarray, rumors about the commander were numerous and widespread. Some thought he died while activating the Crucible. Others thought he might still be alive, either somewhere on Earth or wandering the Citadel. Some of the more outlandish rumors say that he ascended to a higher existence to eliminate the reapers. Of course, the truth was that he and Anderson were found on Citadel a few hours after the Crucible fired. They were in pretty bad shape, but they would live. There were a lot of casualties on the Citadel, but many of them were taken from the surface. Most of the inhabitants survived the when the reapers moved the station into Earth's orbit, including the council. A piece of good news in an otherwise bleak situation.

Anderson would continue organizing people however he could. The admiral knew he had his work cut out for him; there was a lot of work to be done. Shepard on the other hand chose to lay low for a while. He figured people needed to be focused on cleaning up the mess of the war rather than on him. No one was really sure where he was or what he was doing, but whatever it was, Shepard deserved to have a little break from everything. He had earned a reprieve.

It seemed like an eternity since the Normandy had left Earth. The last time, the reapers were mounting a full scale invasion of the planet. When ordered to bug out by Hackett, the reapers were about to get wiped out. Even given that their mortal enemies were meeting their demise, leaving Earth didn't feel right. This time, they were leaving Shepard behind. Joker almost couldn't bring himself to leave, but he knew if they stayed, they would have been killed by the Crucible firing.

After they crash landed on some garden planet, Garrus sat in the med bay with Tali, watching her quietly cry behind her mask. The turian didn't know what to do. Usually it was simple. "I'm sorry for your loss" just didn't cut it. There was nothing to say. He'd lost a good friend, a brother. Tali lost a great deal more. Of course she held on to the hope that he was still alive. She couldn't even bring herself to put his name up on the memorial wall. He couldn't really blame her. Garrus understood her grief, but was utterly helpless in attempting to console her. Even EDI was more able to comfort Tali more than he could. Something had changed in the AI, though. She had more humanity than ever before. Suffering a real loss might have had something to do with it. EDI was truly a part of the crew, not just some machine like the Illusive Man thought she was. Just another thing to throw in his face.

Each of the crew coped in their own ways. Kaidan was as quiet as ever, Joker kept telling his horrible jokes, Liara was glued to her screens looking for any intel on Shepard, and James worked out a lot harder than he usually did, which was a lot to begin with. No one really wanted to guess how Javik was dealing with it, or if was dealing with it at all. The whole ship just felt empty without Shepard. Having to deal with losing the commander a second time was just plain cruel, and this time they didn't even have a solid confirmation that he was actually dead. All they knew was that they had to make it back to Earth as soon as possible.

It took months to get the Normandy back into working order. However it would have been a moot point if the relays were out of commission. They didn't have the resources to reach Earth by conventional FTL drive, and even if they did, it could take months or even years to get there. Plotting the return trip would also prove problematic. The blast wave from the Crucible knocked the Normandy off course. They weren't even sure what planet they had landed on.

However, once enough of the Normandy's systems were brought back online, EDI was able to calculate exactly where they ended up. Once the ship was fully repaired, the crew was quick to volunteer to test the recently rebuilt mass relay when they heard that it was connected to the Charon relay. It was their chance to get back to Earth.

The Charon relay was tested first, sending a frigate through. The ship made it without any damage. With that success, the Normandy was ready to head through the relay to Earth. They weren't sure what they would find when they got there, but they just needed to get there. He people trapped on Earth could use some good news.

When the Normandy landed, there was a huge crowd swarmed the docking area. Normally, something like this would have extremely tight security. But seeing as the Normandy crew was mostly responsible for winning the war, there was fairly little chance someone was going to try to assassinate the crew. One would have to be insane to even try. Shepard had a habit of finding the best people in the galaxy to help him out. It would pretty much be suicide to attack them.

They began to file out of the ship. One of the soldiers securing the landing zone started to clear a path for them, but it was like trying to get out of a mosh pit. Tali was the last to step out. For whatever reason, She had grabbed Shepard's lether N7 jacket. Perhaps she would bury it, pay some last respects to the man she loved. She even slipped it on over her suit. It fit poorly on the quarian's small frame, but she didn't really care that much. As it was, Tali was practically on autopilot. She felt empty. Anyone could tell. As a quarian, it was normal for express her feelings through her body language. It was the way she walked. Stark and hunched, like someone who had lost everything. Shepard was the only person she trusted enough to show her face to. The only one she trusted her heart to. Losing him, again, was like having her heart torn right out of her chest. She knew that she would have to move on, but it wasn't going to be easy.

At least, that's what she thought.

She could see someone pushing their way through the crowd. No, it was parting. They were letting someone through. It didn't take long to find out who it was. Even Tali saw him, she could hardly believe it. She always held hope that she would see Shepard again, but her head told her that he was dead. There hadn't been any contact from him at all, even after FTL communications were restored. Not even Liara's Shadow Broker contacts could get any intel on the commander. But now, Tali found the hole in her heart suddenly filled to the brim; her Shepard was alive.

"Hey there, Tali."

Her reaction was automatic. She ran to him, her feet carrying her faster than she thought was possible. When they finally met in a crushing embrace, she almost knocked him down. She didn't care that there were hundreds of people watching. She needed to hold him, to make sure that she wasn't imagining it. It seemed to perfect to be real. As soon as his arms were around her, she knew that it was really him. He had come back to her.

"You goddamn bosh'tet." Tali was only half joking. She was a little angry at him for not contacting her before now. "You should have called."

"I'm sorry. I tried, but all the channels were hosed."

"Well, I guess you can make it up to me."

"I suppose I can do that."

Shepard took Tali from that place, away from the prying eyes and the gossips. Before now, their relationship had only been known to the public through rumors. Now it was out in the open and people were going to start talking about it non-stop. Not that it was a bad thing. It'll give people something else to talk about other than the massive amount of work that was still ahead for them. The rest of the crew ran interference with the crowd. While they wanted just as much to talk with their friend, they knew it was more important for him and Tali to have some time to themselves. The crew would just have to catch up later.

The two of them ended up going to café nearby. It was still somewhat under reconstruction, but the owners decided that it wasn't practical to keep the place closed on account of some faded paint and bullet holes. People were thinking quite practically these days: they weren't going to be very picky about where they ate, so long as they got food. And with so many turians and a few quarians still on the planet, a lot of places – such as this particular café – were serving dextro-foods, which was fortunate for the famous human Spectre and his quarian girlfriend.

There weren't a lot of people in the café, just a waiter and the owner. It was just as well, the couple had just broken free of a large crowd in order to have some time to themselves. Tali was especially thankful that weren't any prying eyes around. It wasn't that she was worried about people seeing her with Shepard – she actually enjoyed showing off that Commander Shepard was dating a quarian – it was a somewhat private matter that she only really trusted Shepard with. She would eventually need to start trusting others with this particular thing, but she decided to ease into it.

Tali found a booth while Shepard ordered some hot drinks: black coffee for him and a dextro hot cocoa for Tali. She'd gotten a taste for chocolate ever since Garrus offered up some of the turian chocolates that Dr. Michel had given him. Tali needed to do something to repay Dr. Michel for saving her life three years ago, if the doctor was still alive of course. Tali was snapped out of her thoughts when Shepard sat down.

"So, I noticed you're wearing my jacket."

"Oh, right…" She had almost forgotten about that. She slipped it off and placed it on the table. "I'm not sure why I grabbed it. I wasn't really thinking…"

"I understand. Believe me; I've had that emptiness inside."

"You always seem so together, though."

"I had to be. I had a galaxy to save. I couldn't afford to let it get to me."

"You've always put so much burden on yourself."

"Well, maybe if you stick with me long enough, I could learn to lighten up." Tali chuckled quietly. It felt like an eternity since the last time she had smiled.

"We'll just have to find out, won't we?"

"Yeah. You know, that hot cocoa's gonna get cold if we sit her chatting."

"Right."

"You need help with the 'emergency induction port?" Shepard smirked when he said that.

"Heh, no. I think I can manage." Tali looked around a bit, trying to see if there was anyone looking. It was just them and the café staff. The quarian took a deep breath before putting her hands on her mask. There was a brief hiss before the barrier between her and the world came off. Shepard was immediately nervous about what she was doing. He could understand her taking the risk of removing her mask to see her homeworld unfiltered. She must really like cocoa.

"Tali… are you…"

"Oh, it's alright. I was scheduled for some limited exposure anyway." Her voice sounded much sweeter

"Wait… you had a geth installed, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I figured, you would have wanted me to be free of this." Tali touched mask on the table. Thinking back, she's amazed that she had gotten through the war without it even so much as cracking. Perhaps she would have it mounted. "Anyway, some occasional exposure is actually required to help the process a long."

"Well, I'm happy for you. You deserve some freedom after everything you've done."

"It will still take a while before I can go completely without my suit, but for now, a few hours is just fine."

The two of them sat and drank their drinks, talked about what had been happening over the past few months. They had just gotten back together, but it felt as if they were never apart. Those times didn't really matter, so long as they always found a way back to each other.

Shepard and Tali headed back to the Normandy. They kept talking about as they went, the Commander mentioning that the apartment Anderson had given him survived relatively intact. Tali though it was nice that he still had a place to call his own. Of course, Shepard said that he still wanted to help her build a home on Rannoch once the mass relays were back up and running. The two of them speculated on the likelihood that they would actually retire. The general consensus was "not any time soon." The galaxy still had need of them. Just because the reapers were gone didn't mean that there was any lest threat in the galaxy. In fact, with reapers gone, there would be a lot of groups trying to consolidate power, taking advantage of the fact that a lot of resources and attention would be on rebuilding after the war. Someone had to keep the peace, and after taking out the reapers, people would have to think twice about crossing Commander Shepard.

By now, the crowd had dissipated with just the Normandy crew waiting. As the couple approached, the crew saluted, even Javik. That was pretty unexpected. The crew looked ready to head into the city, either to relax after being stranded for several months, or to see what they could do to help out. The advantage of fighting something big as the reapers, clean up didn't seem all that bad in comparison. It was hard seeing everything that was lost, but everything that was lost could be rebuilt. Shepard wasn't sure how long it was going to take to get back, but it didn't really matter. What he did know was that the people of the galaxy would forge on. They won the war. The reapers had only made them stronger.

Things would be difficult going forward. The galaxy has been thrown into chaos in the wake of the reapers. But no matter how bad it was, Normandy would be there to take on anything that threatened the peace. Shepard once heard Legion say that it could not see a clear distinction between the Normandy and her crew. At the time, the commander wasn't quite sure what it meant by that. Now, he wasn't sure he could really see the distinction either. He and his crew were Normandy. They were family, and there was nothing that could break them apart.


End file.
